The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1887-05-07

and members Of parliament. These
have shaped the national policy and
made the country's laws, and to
them is fairly due our safe harbors
and extensive wharves, our roads and |
bridges, our prosperity and public
debt.
Perhaps we haven't that vener-
alton for our great men which is
their due. Familiarity breeds con-
tempt, and as we are rather familiar
with their antics and antecedents,
We may not always speak of them
with, and feel towards them, that
profound respect and revcrential
awe which their superiority of in
tellect and dignity Of position natur-
ally demand. But when we for a
moment contemplate the contingency
or possibility of losing them, we be-
gin to realise their worth, and ask
ourselves the question, "What
should we do without them?" We
know them, we are used to them, we
understand their ways. 1t is true
they give us infinite anxiety and
distress of mind, and are always
liable to bring our grey hairs with
sorrow to the grave. Still the fault
is more ours than theirs.
Some of us have been dragged up
in q narrow school where we have
acquired the habit of looking TO
| public men for sense and informa-
tion, and certain appreciation Of
| justice and honor; but what right
have we to be so exorbitant in our
demands? There is nothing in the
Constitution to justify our eXpecta-
tions. Our institutions are such that
the highest seats are made available
to the greatest blackguards, and
their tendency is to deteriorate day
by day till the whole fabric tumbles
to pieces of it's own rottenness.
The occurrence of events that would
necessitate the retirement of our
great men into private life is some
thing that cannot be contemplated
with equanimity. Just think of how
they have attained their eminence !
They have ruthlessly thrown aside
everything which makes life endur-
able to men of honor. They have
risen to eminence upon the ashes of
conscience, rectitude, and respect
ability. See what they have done
They have smashed principle to atoms
common sense into smithereens,
and the public interest into cooked
hat. In magnificent chamber, will
live President in an armchair ant
some dead notables in picture
frames, we have heard them spout
make war on sense, and jabber ;
melliiluous compound of cant ant
cunning, and have seen them make
laws of nature vastly ahead of the
Medes and Persians, for theirs coul(
not be changed for the better, ant
ours cannot be altered for the worse
Look at their practical wisdom, a'
manifested by and in their public
works for the good of the people
A Board of Genealogy, expert a
bones Hawaiian Board of Health
familiar with glass anatomy; splen
did and costly bridges, washed on
to sea- a magnificent war steamer
of 365 rat-pOwer; and, greatest o
all, huge monument, christenc,
PUBLIC DEBT, which towers up il
proud defiance of time, the element
and the skill of man. DO not thes
works, and many more, bespeak th'
greatness Of our Members and Minis
ters. How cruel it would be t
relegate such men to their origina
insignificance! Let us never thin
of such an act, but rather prepare
G when by the hand of the inevitabl
d they are ultimately laid low, to cree
e over their graves monument {
: wood, as befittingly symbolism
: their natural composition!